Data slice generation method and apparatus for optical disk drive

ABSTRACT

A data slice signal generation method of an optical disk drive, which uses a disk including header areas and data areas of different materials, includes the following steps. First, a data slice signal is generated according to the RF signal read by the optical pickup head of the optical disk drive, and the data slice values, reflecting the central levels of the RF signal, of the data slice signal at the beginnings of the header area and data area are preset. Secondly, when the optical pickup head of the optical disk drive enters a header area or a data area, the data slice signal takes the preset data slice value of the header area or data area, respectively. Then, the data slice signal is adjusted to approach the central levels of the waves of the RF signal by one wave after another.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO A RELATED APPLICATION

This application is a Continuation Application (CA) of U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 10/904,525 filed on Nov. 15, 2004.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

(A) Field of the Invention

The present invention is related to a data slice signal generationmethod and apparatus for an optical disk drive, and more specifically toa data slice signal generation method and apparatus for an optical diskdrive applied to a Digital Video Disc-Random Access Memory (DVD-RAM)disk.

(B) Description of the Related Art

Because of the characteristics of the design on DVD-RAM disk, the headerareas and the data areas, or namely the user data areas, are made ofdifferent materials for recording addresses and data, respectively. Theheader areas, also called the embossed fields, are evenly distributed onthe disk. Both the above-described two areas have different opticalreflectivity owing to the different materials, inducing the generatedradio frequency (RF) signal when the optical pickup head of the opticaldisk drive reads data that has an offset between different areas, asshown in FIG. 1( a). As shown in FIG. 1( b), the central line, i.e.,central voltage, between the crest and the trough of a wave of an RFsignal is hereinafter defined as the central level.

For digitization, a central level signal or namely data slice signal isused for crosscutting the RF signal, the parts larger than the dataslice signal are “1,” and the others are “0.” The data slice signal isadjusted according to the fluctuation of the RF signal and in an attemptto approach the centers of the waves of the RF signal, i.e., the centrallevels of the waves of the RF signal, by one wave after another.However, because of the offset of the RF signal in the header area andthe data area, it is hard to timely adjust the data slice signal to thecenter of the RF signal wave after changing areas, i.e., the response ofthe data slice signal will lag behind the RF signal. If the data slicesignal deviates from the center of the RF signal wave, the decodingerror will occur easily.

Referring to FIG. 2, the header area can be divided into headers 1, 2and headers 3, 4, where the headers 1, 2 and the headers 3, 4 areadjacent to the different sides of a track. Therefore, if the opticalpickup head inclines slightly, it is possible that the RF signal has anoffset between the headers 1, 2 and headers 3, 4. Besides the block“data” for data storage, the data area also includes data format blockssuch as “Mirror,” “Gap,” “Guard1,” “VFO3,” “PS,” “PA3,” “Guard2” and“buffer” that are defined by the DVD-RAM specification.

Referring to FIG. 3, each header can be further subdivided into multiplesub-areas. For example, the header 1 includes the address format blockssuch as “VFO1,” “AM,” “PID1,” “IED1” and “PA1” that are defined by theDVD-RAM specification.

Traditionally, the data slice signal is obtained according to thecentral level of previous RF signal wave. This method will not causeproblems to the disk of same material such as a CD-ROM or DVD-ROM disk.However, the surface of a DVD-RAM disk has different reflectivitiesbecause of the mixture of the header areas and the data areas.Accordingly, the method cannot timely and precisely figure out thecentral level of the RF signal after changing area, so the probabilityof decoding error occurrence will be greatly increased.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The objective of the present invention is to provide a data slice signalgeneration method and apparatus for an optical disk drive, with a viewto solving the problem that the RF signals have offsets in differentareas because the DVD-RAM disk has different optical reflectivities inthe header areas and the data areas, so the probability of the decodingerror occurrence can be decreased.

To accomplish the above-described objective, the present inventiondiscloses a data slice signal generation method of an optical diskdrive, where the optical disk drive uses the disk including at least oneheader area and at least one data area made of different materials,e.g., a DVD-RAM disk. The data slice signal generation method includesthe following steps. First, a data slice signal is generated accordingto the RF signal read by the optical pickup head of the optical diskdrive, and the data slice values, reflecting the central levels of theRF signal, of the data slice signal at the beginnings of the header areaand data area are preset. Secondly, when the optical pickup head of theoptical disk drive enters a header area or a data area, the data slicesignal is adjusted to take the preset data slice value of the headerarea or the data area, respectively. Afterwards, the data slice signalis adjusted to approach the central levels of the waves of the RF signalby one wave after another.

The above-described method uses empirical values to preset the dataslice signal that directly takes the data slice value of the header areaor the data area, with a view to complying with the change betweendifferent areas. In addition, the data slice value of the end of theheader area or the data area can also be recorded to act as the dataslice value of the beginning of the next header area or the next dataarea for more accurately approaching the actual reading conditions.

The above-described method can be implemented by a data slice signalgeneration apparatus for an optical disk drive, which includes a dataslice generation circuit, an area changing signal generation circuit, anarea level selection circuit, a switch logic circuit and a comparator.The data slice generation circuit receives an RF signal read by theoptical pickup head of the optical disk drive so as to generate a dataslice signal. The area changing signal generation circuit is used forgenerating an area changing signal to show whether the optical pickuphead switches between the header area and the data area. The area levelselection circuit is intended to select the data slice value of theheader area or the data area. The switch logic circuit selects the dataslice signal or the data slice value as its output based on the areachanging signal. The comparator receives the RF signal and the outputsignal of the switch logic circuit to carry out analog-to-digitalconversion.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1( a) illustrates an RF signal and the relevant data slice signalof a known optical disk drive using a DVD-RAM disk;

FIG. 1( b) illustrates the definition of central level of a wave of anRF signal;

FIGS. 2 and 3 illustrate the format blocks of a DVD-RAM disk;

FIG. 4 illustrates the data slice signal generation method in accordancewith the present invention; and

FIG. 5 illustrates the data slice signal generation apparatus inaccordance with the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Referring to FIG. 4, in view of the characteristics of the differentoptical reflectivity between a header area and a data area of a DVD-RAMdisk, when the optical pickup head changes to a different area, thelevel of the beginning of the header area or the data area of the dataslice signal is preset to a value, followed by, in the light of theoriginal manner, adjusting the data slice signal to approach the centrallevels of the waves of the RF signal. In addition, if the area afterchanging is relatively short, the data slice signal can be fixed at thepreset level so that the adjustment is not needed. The occasion that thedata slice signal uses the preset value is based on an area changingsignal. The preset value of the data slice signal is obtained based onthe experiences of users and the practical conditions, and can be set orcontrolled by a program.

Besides the way of presetting the level of the data slice signal, i.e.,data slice value, by an empirical value, a method to hold the end valuesof the data slice signal in the header area and the data area also canbe employed. Depending upon whether the next step is changed to a headerarea or a data area, the corresponding data slice value at the end ofthe header area or data area is set to be the data slice value of thebeginning of the next header area or next data area. In other words, thedata slice value at the end of the present header area or data area isdeemed the data slice value of the beginning of the next header area orthe next data area. Even for different header areas (or data areas),they are made of the same materials. Therefore, the data slice values ofall the header areas are approximately the same, i.e., there are minorvariations of the data slice values among different header areas.

In addition, being similar to the above-described method, the startuplevels of the headers 1, 2 and headers 3, 4 of the data slice signalalso can be preset, or the data slice values at the end of the previousheaders 1, 2 or headers 3, 4 are used, so as to solve the offset problemof the RF signal between the headers 1, 2 and headers 3, 4.

Referring back to FIG. 2 and FIG. 3, for the practical operation, thedata slice value at the beginning of the header area or data area can beset in the front blocks of the header or in the format blocks of VFO1,VFO2, VFO3, AM, PS or buffer that are defined by the DVD-RAMspecification, i.e., the blocks before and after the “data” block.

The data slice signal generation apparatus 10 put forth in the presentinvention is shown in FIG. 5, with a view to implementing theabove-described data slice signal generation method. The data slicesignal generation apparatus 10 includes a data slice generation circuit11, a switch logic circuit 12, an area level selection circuit 13, anarea changing signal generation circuit 14 and a comparator 15. The RFsignal read from the DVD-RAM disk 16 by an optical pickup head 17 istransmitted to the data slice generation circuit 11, so as to generate adata slice signal. The area level selection circuit 13 is intended togenerate a constant level serving as the setting value of the slice dataduring area changing. In FIG. 5, the area level selection circuit 13 canselect a level A or B, where levels A and B represent the preset dataslice values of the header area and the data area, respectively. If theoptical pickup head 17 enters the header area from the data area, thearea level selection circuit 13 transmits the level A to the switchlogic circuit 12; if the optical pickup head 17 enters the data areafrom the header area, the level B is transmitted to the switch logiccircuit 12. The area level selection circuit 13 also can receive thedata slice signal output by the data slice generation circuit 11, andthe data slice values at the ends of the header area and the data arearespectively substitutes the levels A and B, and are transmitted to theswitch logic circuit 12. An area changing signal generated by the areachanging signal generation circuit 14 is input to the switch logiccircuit 12 to indicate whether the optical pickup head 17 switchesareas. Referring back to FIG. 4, when the area changing signal is athigh level, it indicates that the optical pickup head 17 is changing theareas, and the area level selection circuit 13, as described above, willsend a constant level to the switch logic circuit 12 based on whetherthe optical pickup head 17 is in the header area or the data area. Incontrast, when the area changing signal is at low level, it indicatesthat the optical pickup head 17 is not changing areas, and the switchlogic circuit 12 will only receive the data slice signal sent by thedata slice generation circuit 11. In other words, when the area changes,the switch logic circuit 12 selects the constant level output by thearea level selection circuit 13, whereas the data slice signal output bythe data slice generation circuit 11 is selected when the area does notchange. Whether the present optical pickup head is in the header area orthe data area is determined by another technique that, however, is notdescribed in detail here, because it is not the emphasis of the presentinvention. The comparator 15 receives the output of the switch logiccircuit 12 and the RF signal for carrying out analog-to-digitalconversion. The output of the comparator 15 can be fed back to the dataslice generation circuit 11 for adjustment in real time.

The above-described embodiments of the present invention are intended tobe illustrative only. Numerous alternative embodiments may be devised bythose skilled in the art without departing from the scope of thefollowing claims.

1. A data slice signal generation method for an optical disk drive, eachof optical disks used in the optical disk drive including at least oneheader area and at least one data area, the method comprising the stepsof: generating a radio frequency signal read by an optical pickup headof the optical disk drive, wherein the radio frequency signal comprisesmultiple waves; presetting data slice values in the beginnings of theheader area and the data area, wherein the data slice values in thebeginning of the header area and the data area respectively reflect thecentral levels of the multiple waves in the header area and the dataarea; generating a data slice signal based on the radio frequencysignal, wherein an initial value of the data slice signal is assigned bythe preset data slice value in the beginning of the header area when theoptical pickup head enters the header area, and assigned by the presetdata slice value in the beginning of the data area when the opticalpickup head enters the data area; and adjusting the data slice signal toapproach to the central levels of the multiple waves of the radiofrequency signal.
 2. The data slice signal generation method for anoptical disk drive in accordance with claim 1, wherein the header areaincludes a first header and a second header and the first header and thesecond header are adjacent to the different sides of a track of theoptical disk, and wherein the preset data slice value in the beginningof the header area is selected from the data slice values in thebeginnings of the first header and the second header.
 3. The data slicesignal generation method for an optical disk drive in accordance withclaim 1, which is applied to a DVD-RAM disk.
 4. The data slice signalgeneration method for an optical disk drive in accordance with claim 3,wherein the data slice signal takes the preset data slice value in theVFO1, VFO2, VFO3, AM, PS or buffer of the DVD-RAM disk.
 5. A data slicesignal generation method for an optical disk drive, each of opticaldisks used in the optical disk drive including header areas and dataareas, the method comprising the steps of: generating a data slicesignal based on a radio frequency signal read by an optical pickup headof the optical disk drive, wherein the radio frequency signal comprisesmultiple waves; recording data slice values of the data slice signal inthe end of the header area and the data area; adjusting the data slicesignal to take the recorded data slice value in the end of the headerarea when the optical pickup head enters the next header area, and totake the recorded data slice value in the end of the data area when theoptical pickup head enters the next data area; and adjusting the dataslice signal to approach to central levels of the multiple waves of theradio frequency signal.
 6. The data slice signal generation method foran optical disk drive in accordance with claim 5, wherein the headerarea includes a first header and a second header and the first headerand the second header are adjacent to the different sides of a track ofthe optical disk, and wherein the recorded data slice value in the endof the header area is selected from the data slice values in the ends ofthe first header and the second header.
 7. The data slice signalgeneration method for an optical disk drive in accordance with claim 5,which is applied to a DVD-RAM disk.
 8. The data slice signal generationmethod for an optical disk drive in accordance with claim 7, wherein thedata slice signal takes the preset data slice value in the VFO1, VFO2,VFO3, AM, PS or buffer of the DVD-RAM disk.
 9. A data slice signalgeneration apparatus for an optical disk drive, optical disks used inthe optical disk drive including header areas and data areas, theapparatus comprising: a data slice generation circuit which receives aradio frequency signal read by an optical pickup head of the opticaldisk drive to generate a data slice signal; an area changing signalgeneration circuit for generating an area changing signal so as toindicate whether the optical pickup head switches between the headerareas and the data areas; an area level selection circuit for selectingthe data slice values of the data slice signal in the header areas or inthe data areas; a switch logic circuit which selects the data slicesignal or the data slice values as the output based on the area changingsignal; and a comparator which receives the radio frequency signal andthe output of the switch logic circuit to conduct an analog-to-digitalconversion.
 10. The data slice signal generation apparatus for anoptical disk drive in accordance with claim 9, which is applied to aDVD-RAM disk.